Pop Buzz UK

Here is the second batch of seven housemates to enter the Big Brother house on this, the ninth series, and my initial impressions of them all.

Alexandra

My least favourite house mate on first impressions. She thinks she is it. Was proud of getting pregnant at 15, and seems to think getting a job is something she should be applauded for. The new Charley?

Rex

yet another vain show-off, but I actually think a lot of it was just show to get in the house. If he settles down and let’s his natural personality shine through, he could be okay. But on first showing, it’s a big if.

Mohamed

A black guy with an afro, which is always good. He’s a Muslim who isn’t practising except when he’s at home, which means he isn’t a Muslim surely? Seems to be quite settled, able to have fun, without being annoying.

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Big Brother 9 launched tonight with an hour and a half long première that introduced us to the usual bunch of weirdos that always seem to be chosen. I’ll be covering the series a lot here on Pop Buzz UK, but we start with my initial thoughts on this year’s sixteen housemates. Here are the first 9 in the house…

Lisa and Mario

They both seem to be very fake, and indeed her breasts are. They grew on me once in the house for an hour, as they came across as terribly shallow and obsessed with their looks in their audition footage.

Luke

A bit of a freak, but I actually quite like him. He might start to grate on the nerves a bit after a few weeks, but it’ll be good to watch as he annoys his house mates so much they want to leave.

Stephanie

A horrible girl who seems to think she’s the hottest, most intelligent person ever to have walked the planet. She’s not. She’s an average looking blonde bint who walked the wrong way when she got out of the van.

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When television shows end, it can be hard on the viewers, especially if the show ends in an unsatisfactory way, with plot holes left unfilled, and strands left open. And it’s not me saying this, but the British public who responded to a poll by Tiscali TV.

1,586 people were questioned in the poll over their favourite programmes, how they felt when it came to an end, and how they felt toward the characters.

According to Digital Spy, 22% of British viewers suffer what is called TV Trauma when a programme comes to an end. Amongst the younger generation of 16 to 24-year-olds, the proportion rises considerably to 32%.

If that wasn’t bad enough, 29% of respondents claimed to have fallen in love with a TV character, including 50% of the younger generation. The most popular choices were Doctor Who’s Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Cold Feet’s Adam Williams (James Nesbitt).

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For eight years now, we’ve been watching Davina McCall presenting the UK version of Big Brother, but it seems that finally, after this next series, Big Brother 9, she’s going to call it a day and quit the hit Channel 4 show.

While the reality show is much more about the contestants, and the interplay which goes on between them while in the house, Davina has definitely added something to the show, and made it her own. When she had to have the odd day off, and another presenter stood in for her, it just wasn’t the same.

But everyone was a fan, and all the while the show has been running, Davina has had her critics, and had to endure many accusations of being lazy or just plain dull on the show. Many people on Internet forums dedicated to the show roundly criticised her interviewing skills, as she’d often let the big questions escape unasked, and the viewers screaming at the television.

So why is she quitting? Well, according to the News Of The World, she has decided that the time is ripe for a change of career, and no longer wants to be a presenter. She’s giving up in an attempt to forge a serious acting career instead.

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Blake’s 7, the cult sci-fi series which ran on the BBC between 1978 and 1981 is set to be remade by Sky. A revival has been asked for by fans for years, and now that Doctor Who has proved science fiction can work on prime time, Sky are keen to bring it back.

The show was originally launched after the worldwide success of Star Wars, but proved to be a much darker storyline with cynical characters.

In the original show, Blake was a political dissident who formed a gang of rebels (Blake’s 7) to escape deportation to a remote planet. The series ended with the whole crew being massacred. However, Blake, his lieutenant Avon, and Servalan, the Supreme Commander, are all set to be revived as part of the new series.

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The BAFTA Television Awards took place tonight at the London Palladium, and the ceremony was full of surprises, as a series of unexpected winners took home the trophies.

The ceremony is an annual back slapping for the cream of British television, with actors, directors and programmes being awarded for the last twelve months.

The big winners were the cast and crew of Gavin and Stacey, a little sitcom which has built a cult following on BBC Three over the past two years.

The show, currently on its second series, won programme of the year, while its star, and co-writer James Corden, who is rumoured to be dating songstress Lily Allen, won the award for best comedy performance.

The series beat The Apprentice, Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent to the title, while Corden beat such illustrious names as Stephen Merchant (Extras) and David Mitchell (Peep Show).

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The story of Mark Speight and his fiancée has taken a terrible final twist today after his body was found hanged at London Paddington train station.

Mark Speight was the TV presenter of children’s programmes such as SMart, Scratchy & Co. and History Buster, who in January, found his fiancée’s body in the bath of the North London flat they shared together.

At first he was arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying Class A drugs. He later admitted the pair had been partying all night, but was cleared of murder, and released on bail.

The BBC then cancelled SMart for the foreseeable future, and Speight quit as presenter.

An inquest, which was opened in January, records Collins’ death as one by misadventure after high levels of cocaine and sleeping pills were found in her blood. The results were made public on April 2nd, by which time Speight is said to be depressed.

On April 7th, Speight was reported missing after failing to meet Collins’ mother for lunch. Today, six days after he disappeared, his body was discovered hanged at Paddington station in London.

This is an absolutely unbelievable ending to a tragedy which has ended up taking two lives away, and affecting many others.

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Britain’s Got Talent started very ropily last year, but was saved when Paul Potts came on stage and blew everyone away. This mild mannered mobile phone salesman got over his crippling lack of confidence to win the final by singing opera like an Italian tenor.

Since then Potts has gone on to have a best selling album and is playing venues around the world. But that was last year, and we need another winner of his calibre. Unfortunately, based on the first episode which has just aired on ITV, that ultra talented individual is going to take a bit of searching.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some good performers on show tonight. The dog was talented, the Christina Aguilera-alikes were nice in their own right, the electric string quartet called Scala were brilliant, and beautiful too. And last but not least there was the Pie Jesu singing 13 year old bully victim.

They were all very good, and the latter even made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle in the same way that Potts managed 12 months ago. However, his voice will break, and then he’ll just become another average singer who Simon Cowell will abuse till kingdom come.

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The new series of Doctor Who begins on British television this coming Saturday, with the first episode showing at 6.20pm on BBC One.

There’s been debate over whether the BBC have done the right thing in moving the cult series from its 7pm timeslot. I personally think it’s a bad move, especially when you consider it’s only been done to allow the God awful reality show I’d Do Anything to nab the prime time slot instead.

Regardless of when it’s on however, I and millions of others will be glued to our screens week after week for the next few months, so here is a short preview of the upcoming series.

David Tennant once again returns as the Doctor, although he does have a new assistant in the form of Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate.

I wasn’t too keen on her character, and performance in the Christmas special but having seen previews of her in the new series at the cinema over the last few weeks, I think she’s upped her game, and become more of a traditional assistant.

Martha Jones, the Doctor’s last full-time assistant will also be making an appearance in a few episodes, as will Rose, played by Billie Piper, after she somehow manages to bypass the previously closed void between her and the Doctor.

Also returning for brief appearances will be Captain Jack, and Sarah Jane Smith, as well as Rose’s mother Jackie Tyler, and the lovable Mickey Smith.

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I’m a big fan of The Apprentice, both the US and UK series actually. Donald Trump has his hairpiece, while Alan Sugar has a face more wrinkly than a bulldog’s backside.

The British version of the series which sees a collection of supposedly the best candidates in the country competing for a job with Sir Alan returned on Wednesday night, and it is already set to be an explosive year.

First we got to meet the sixteen new candidates, although some were so lacking in personality, I couldn’t tell you their name, where they were from, or what they contributed to the show.

They are all very good looking this year though, with the producers seeming to have started picking people as much for their dress sense and grooming as their business acumen.

The teams met Alan, and were then set their first task even before being shown the house they will be sharing for the next few months.

As is traditional, they were separated along gender lines to begin, although that will likely change in a few week’s time. The men called themselves Renaissance, while the ladies opted for Alpha.

The task was as simple as anything, at least in theory: The teams being given £600 worth of fresh fish and being told to sell them at a market for as much profit as possible.

Unfortunately, both teams went off half-cocked, with very little preparation meaning that pricing, and even labelling were all wrong.

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Noooooooooo, please say it ain’t so! When I posted last week about the end of the marriage between Paul McCartney and Heather Mills with a high court judge awarding the one-legged model $48 million, I thought that would be it, end of the matter.

I was hoping beyond hope that I could avoid talking about the whole sorry mess ever again here on Pop Buzz UK. Unfortunately, my plan has come crashing down after just six days, and here we have another post on the topic.

It’s not my fault, it’s Heather Mills fault, as she just won’t shut up about it all. Instead she seems intent on keeping herself and her many tales of woe in the public eye for as long as she can.

According to The News Of The World, she is bitter about the divorce ruling, and only receiving $48 million, rather than the $250 million she was asking for. And so is hatching plans get revenge on Paul, his lawyer (who has already had a glass of water thrown over her) and the high court judge who branded her a liar.

She has allegedly told a friend:

“He’s a Beatles fan. His ruling was so one-sided. It just shows that when you’re a Beatle you’re untouchable. The ruling shows an element of Beatle worship. The judge is just another person who idolises Paul McCartney.”

Rubbish, the high court judge just gave his opinion. Just because it wasn’t an opinion in your favour doesn’t mean that it was wrong or for any other ludicrous reason.

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Well thank God, disguised in the form Judge Hugh Bennett, that that is all over! These divorce proceedings between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney have been going on for far too long, and got far too bitchy, but finally they are at an end.

The celebrity couple, well an ex-Beatle and a one legged ex-model at least. split up over two years ago, but it has taken this long for the pair to settle on a financial deal, and then only because a high court judge decided the outcome for them.

Mills has ended up with $48.6 million, which is broken down in to a lump sum of $33 million to add to the assets she already holds (basically, property, cars, furniture etc) which she already holds. On top of that, the couple’s 4-year-old daughter Beatrice will receive $70,000 per annum, as well as McCartney having to pay for the child’s nanny and school fees.

While McCartney retained his dignity (what little he had left after this charade) by remaining silent at the end of the court proceedings, Mills called an impromptu press conference to express her delight at the outcome.

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On Thursday, it was revealed that Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, was fighting in Afghanistan. The British press had kept it quiet due to a media blackout, but The Drudge Report, an American website famous for breaking the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky story, revealed the truth.

Prince Harry was then immediately brought back to the UK, due to the MOD deciding that it would be too great a risk to keep him out in a war zone fighting the Taleban.

Harry arrived home on Saturday morning, landing at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at 11.29am with around 170 other soldiers. Two of the men he was travelling with were severely injured, which prompted Harry to insist “”Don’t call me a hero, those are the heroes.”

He spoke to the media about his experiences in the war torn country, saying:

You do what you have to do, what’s necessary to save your own guys.

“If you need to drop a bomb, worst case scenario then you will, but then that’s just the way it is.

“It’s not nice to drop bombs but to save lives that’s what happens. You do what you have to do to save your own guys.”

He also insisted that he’d be more than happy to go back, claiming he wants to sit down with his colonel and talk through various options.

It was also revealed that Prince William could soon be serving with the navy, as he will soon be commissioned and serve on a frigate or destroyer in one of the world’s trouble spots.

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Almost a year to the day that there was speculation that Prince Harry would be going to Iraq to fight with his A Squadron of The Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, it has emerged that Charles and Diana’s son has been fighting in Afghanistan since before Christmas.

He is reported to have been working in Helmand province of the war torn country, as an Air Controller, responsible for covering front line troops. It has also been confirmed that he has been personally involved in clashes with the Taleban.

He is currently two and a half months in to a four month deployment, although now that the news is out, army chiefs have a tough decision to see if they can risk him staying out there, or whether he should be brought back prematurely.

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There I was merrily minding my own business last night when an earthquake hit Britain and made me feel like the house was about to collapse. Okay, it was only a minor earth tremor in the big scheme of things, but this is the UK, and earthquakes are not regular occurrences. In fact, this is the first one since 2001, and the first I have ever experienced.

I was actually sitting in the bath at the time, reading a book, and looking forward to bed when the earthquake hit at 12.56am. The bath was probably the worst place to be, as I could feel the water shaking around me, and actually thought the whole unit was going to rip apart and leave me on the floor in a puddle of water.

It’s a really weird experience as not being used to quakes in the UK, it’s not the first thing that goes through your mind. I thought the guy upstairs was banging about at first, and then when the tremor stopped, wondered what on earth could have caused it. Luckily my girlfriend explained, having been in the area when the 2001 one hit, and knowing the signs.

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